Wind, Water,
Clouds & Fire is Henry BrantÕs newest work, commissioned by Present Music for
performance on November 19 and 21, 2004 at St. JohnÕs Cathedral in Milwaukee.
It may be described as an extraplanetary, environmental oratorio. Following is
a description of the vocal and instrumental forces involved:

3 womenÕs choruses,
each with its own conductor, each singing music independent of the other
choruses 1 childrenÕs chorus, with its own conductor, singing music independent
of the other choruses. All the choruses are widely separated and sing text
adapted from notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.

To each womenÕs
chorus is assigned the text of one of LeonardoÕs philosophic-scientific
reflections, as follows: Chorus 1—Wind, Chorus 2—Water, Chorus
3—Clouds.

The text of
LeonardoÕs observations and analyses of the properties of Fire is given to the
childrenÕs chorus (Chorus 4).

WomenÕs choruses
1 and 2 are located, respectively, midway in the two side aisles, facing into
the audience; the third womenÕs chorus sings from the gallery. The childrenÕs
chorus is positioned in the apse.

A solo wind player is
stationed with each choral group and takes the role of obbligato commentator:
oboe and soprano saxophone, each with an aisle womenÕs chorus, flute with
womenÕs chorus 3 in the gallery. And two unison clarinets will stand in the
middle of the childrenÕs voices in the apse.

Situated downstairs
behind the congregational area, is a unison group of violins led by its own
conductor. Each choral conductor maintains accurate rhythmic co-ordination
within his/her group, the violin conductor likewise, but the groups make no
effort to Òstay together.Ó All entrances and exits are signaled to the group
conductors by the principal conductor, Kevin Stalheim, from a platform in the
apse. Placed around Kevin in the apse are two separated instrumental groups:

The organ has a
complex improvised part (played by the composer on the pipe organ in the
gallery). The composer also improvised on a second xylophone in the gallery.

Six trumpets complete
the instrumentation. Four of them are located in the four corners of the
congregation area and play facing in toward the audience. A jazz trumpeter
plays riffs and blues from the apse, and a piccolo trumpet intones obbligati in
alternation with the childrenÕs chorusÕs Gregorian-like chanting.

Generally speaking,
the action of Wind, Water, Clouds and Fire is concerned with a contemplation of
the workings of the natural world, and of the extent to which the increasing
complexity of human affairs may conflict with basic planetary processes. With
the aim of suggesting distances far beyond the planet Earth, the entire musical
texture of this work is expressed in pitches above middle C.

Water drives the
sea away from old shores and the sea has gone back to the sea many times.

Movement of water
inside water that is much like movement of are inside air.

Water is sometimes
acid, sometimes bitter. Water is sometimes thick, sometimes thin. Without
stopping, water is always consuming and capturing whatever it touches.

Wet wind found in
caverns that have both exit and entrance can produce water.

Water is what
keeps this dry planet alive and without it nothing among us can survive.

Water Spaces.
Water Spaces. Water Spaces. Water Spaces.

Water rages
turbulently with furious violence at others it is clear, peaceful and
playful.Water helps keep this dry
planet alive.

Leonardo da
Vinci,Leonardo da Vinci, Vinci,
Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci.

Chorus III

Clouds often
descend to earth and are instantly cut right off becoming invisible

when the air is
still and a large group of clouds has risen to a high level and then these
clouds are pressed close together.They squeeze out so much air that you can see this compression
transferred to other smaller clouds.

When 2 contrary
winds force 2 clouds to collide both clouds merge and being unable to descend
because of the wind moving under them they are forced to extend upwards.

To create a cloud
a great quantity of air needs to rush together.When a cloud is created it also generates wind and then it
dissolves and changes into air increasing its size and shape.

Clouds are formed
with different round shapes which are separated in different spaces.

Concentrations of
humidity scattered throughout the air cause formations of clouds and changes
both their actual size and their shape.

Clouds spaces.
Clouds Spaces. Clouds Spaces. Clouds Spaces.

The more furious
the wind is when it starts the shorter will be its duration.Wind is itself invisible. Only those
things carried by the wind can be seen.

Smoke in which
fire begins is much hotter than smoke in which it ends.

If more and more
wood is piled up, your fire will get bigger and bigger.

Young dry wood
will make a much brighter blue smoke than old damp wood.

If you put your
candle in a cold place the light will get dim.

Fire gets bigger
and bigger if fuel keeps piling on.

Smoke is fast when
it starts and slow as it rises because rising makes it colder and heavier.

Fire begins at the
top of a round blue flame then stretches and becomes a heart pointing up to the
sky.

Fire Spaces.Fire Spaces.Fire Spaces. Fire Spaces.

No animal can live
where fire cannot burn.

Fire begins and
ends in smoke.

Leonardo da Vinci,Leonardo da Vinci, Vinci, Vinci,
Leonardo da Vinci.

2. Litany of Tides

Spatial Antiphonies
for Solo Violin, Large Orchestra, Small Orchestra, and Four Sopranos

Daniel Kobialka, Solo
Violin

Litany of Tides, completed in July
1983, was commissioned by the San Jose Symphony, written for violinist Daniel
Kobialka (with whom I have collaborated on joint projects since 1958, and
dedicated to the memory of my father, the violinistSaul Brant (1882-1934).The first performances were in San Jose, September 24 and
25, 1983.Daniel Kobialka was the
soloist; George Cleve conducted the Òstage orchestraÓ, comprising the entire
string section, the horns and tubas, the double-reed instruments, and 2
pianos.In the balcony I conducted
6 widely separated groups: 3 flutes, 3 clarinets, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 3
bell-percussionists, and a duo of harp and mandolin.Under the balcony, behind the audience on one side, was the
timpanist; on the other side was the bass-drum and gongs.Forward of the stage, behind grilled
openings in the walls 30 feet up from the floor, were situated 4 soprano
singers, 2 on each side of the audience.Each sang a different set of melodies, on texts describing tidal
currents, wave formations, lunar attraction, tides in the atmosphere and within
the earth, and flood tides.Daniel
Kobialka played from a corner of the balcony throughout most of the work, and
from the stage during his final 3 episodes.Musical materials assigned to the violin, to each orchestra,
and to the singers have no relation to each other; the effect in the hall is
that of 4 different compositions played at once; the listeners themselves being
the connecting factors.

Before I began to
write Litany of Tides, I inquired about the other works to be programmed on
the same concert.When I learned
that BachÕs Suite No.3 was to precede me,
and BeethovenÕs 5th Symphony to follow, I decided that this unique
opportunity to form part of such a triptych should somehow be incorporated in
my new piece.Accordingly, the
opening phrases of the Beethoven symphony are superimposed over several of my
passages towards the end.In
thinking further about BachÕs trumpets and violins, it occurred to me that this
mixture has an exact modern counterpart in the Mexican mariachi band, where a
few violins, sometimes only one, have to contend in unison with a loud
trumpet.And so Litany of Tides begins with the
Gavotte from BachÕs Suite No. 3, played by the trumpets in the balcony,
somewhat in the manner of a Mexican march.—H.B.

Text (sung
simultaneously by four rhythmically-independent sopranos)

Soprano 1 – Tides
are caused by the attraction of the sun and moon acting unequally on the waters
in different parts of the earth.

Sop.1 – There
are two high tides on the earth, the direct tide on the side facing the moon
and the indirect side on the opposite side.

Sop. 2 –
Tides are the alternate rise and fall of sea level in large bodies of water.

Sop. 3 – If
the moon attracted evÕry point within the earth with equal force there would be
no tides.

Sop. 4 – We
can think of the tide as the longest possible ocean wave, one which stretches
all the way around the earth.

Sop. 1 – When
tides flow into an estuary, the water level rises faster than it falls and the
flood tide flows faster than it ebbs.

Sop. 2 – Flood
tide is the flux or rising of the water; ebb-tide is its reflux.

Sop. 3 – Tides
are produced by differences in lunar force at various points on the earthÕs
surface.

Sop. 4 – As
the tides change, currents must flow to redistribute the oceanÕs water.

Sop. 1 – When
tidal currents flow into the mouth of the river they must speed up.

Sop. 2 – Tidal
range is the diffÕrence in sea level between high and low tides.

Sop. 3 – Tides
are raised in the earthÕs solid crust and atmosphere as well as in the ocean.

Sop. 4 –
Tides are made by the changes in the shape of celestial bodies that arise from
the dislocating stresses created by their mutual attraction.

DANIEL KOBIALKA

World-renowned violinist Daniel Kobialka embraces both the classic and the
avant-garde in his search to create sounds that enliven and heal.
Kobialka was the founding concertmaster and soloist at the Greater Boston Youth
Symphony Orchestra, where he played alongside John Adams. Other important
relationships that influenced KobialkaÕs musical talents include such legendary
musicians and composers as Lou Harrison, Harry Partch, Vivian Fine and Henry
Brant.

Kobialka pioneered the development of the Zeta Polyphonic violin, a MIDI
synthony instrument that can be played—and heard—in a very large
space. He has commissioned over 30 works from such composers as Pulitzer
Prize winners Charles Wuorinen, William Bolcom, and Wayne Peterson.

KobialkaÕs music is the core of a series of studies linking sound with CAM
— complimentary and alternative medicine for health and healing. At the
center of KobialkaÕs focus is the rejuvenative power of music.

Kobialka has been Principal 2nd Violinist with the San Francisco Symphony for
over two decades, occupying the Dinner and Swig Families Chair. In addition to
his many performances worldwide, he is the founding concertmaster and annual
soloist with San FranciscoÕs annual Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra under
George Cleve, with whom he has recorded MozartÕs Violin Concerto No 1. Michael
Tilsen Thomas states, ÒDaniel Kobialka brings to life music of the past,
present and future, and communicates true joy.Ó

ÒA sensitive and intelligent performer with a natural gift for his instrument.Ó
— Aaron Copland

ÒKobialka is a musician of unusual strength and devotion.Ó — Leonard
Bernstein

Trinity of
Spheres requires three widely separated orchestras, each with its own
conductor. The largest group is on stage and includes the string orchestra, two
harps and piano, and percussion. Two smaller groups both consist of winds and
percussion only, one limited to high-pitched instruments and the other
including only those of low or medium pitch. The musical material for each of
the three orchestras is independent of what the other two play, throughout. The
work is in one movement, comprising 15 contrasted events, each one signaled by
percussion announcements.

HENRY BRANT

Henry Brant is
AmericaÕs foremost composer of acoustic spatial music. The planned positioning
of performers throughout the hall, as well as on stage, is an essential factor
in his composing scheme and a point of departure for a radically expanded range
and intensity of musical expression. BrantÕs mastery of spatial composing
technique enables him to write textures of unprecedented polyphonic and/or
polystylistic complexity while providing maximum resonance in the hall and
increased clarity of musical detail for the listener. His catalogue now
comprises over 100 spatial works.

Recent premieres
include Tremors, for 4 singers and 16 instrumentalists, commissioned by the Getty
Research Institute, premiered on June 4, 2004, at the Getty Center in Los
Angeles. Tremors was repeated in a Green Umbrella concert at LAÕs new Disney Hall
on November 1, 2004. Ghosts & Gargoyles, a concerto for
flute solo with flute orchestra, for New Music Concerts, Toronto had its
premiere on May 26, 2002. Ice Field, for large orchestral groups and organ, was
commissioned by Other Minds for a December 2001 premiere by the San Francisco
Symphony.

In the mid 1950Õs
Brant felt that Òsingle-style musicÉcould no longer evoke the new stresses,
layered insanities, and multi-directional assaults of contemporary life on the
spirit.Ó In keeping with BrantÕs belief that music can be as complex and contradictory
as everyday life, his larger works often employ multiple, contrasting
performing forces, as in Meteor Farm (1982) for symphony orchestra, large jazz
band, two choruses, West African drum ensemble and chorus, South Indian
soloists, large Gamelan ensemble, percussion orchestra and two Western solo
sopranos. BrantÕs spatial experiments have convinced him that space exerts
specific influences on harmony, polyphony, texture and timbre. He regards space
as musicÕs Òfourth dimension,Ó (after pitch, time and timbre). Brant continues
to experiment with new combinations of acoustic timbres, even creating entire
works for instrumental family groups of a single timbre: Orbits for 80 trombones, Ghosts
& Gargoyles for 9 flutes, and others for multiple trumpets and guitars. This
predilection for ensembles of a single tone quality dates from Angels and
Devils
(1932). Brant does not use electronic materials or permit amplification in his
music.

A member of the
American Academy of Arts & Letters, Brant was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer
Prize in Music for Ice Field (2001). He has received two Guggenheim
Fellowships and was the first America composer to win the Prix Italia. Among
other honors are Ford Foundation, Fromm Foundation, National Endowment for the
Arts and Koussevitzky awards and the American Music CenterÕs Letter of
Distinction. The Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel has acquired BrantÕs complete
archive of original manuscripts including over 300 works (1998). In conjunction
with BrantÕs 85th birthday concert, Wesleyan University conferred upon him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts (1998).

Born in Montreal
of American parents in 1913, Henry Brant began composing at the age of eight.
After moving to New York in 1929, he composed and conducted for radio, film,
ballet, and jazz groups. Starting in the late 40s, he taught at Columbia
University, Juilliard, and, for 24 years, Bennington College. Since 1981, he
has made his home in Santa Barbara, California.